BeWoke.com’s education-driven sales cycle, from $244 purchase to $6,000 sale | 191

BeWoke.com Reasons for the SaleThe ninth installment of our Behind the Sale series on the Efty blog is now up. I interview domain name investors who reveal all the information on a recent sale in this series. You’ll discover how they made their purchases and sales, how the talks worked, and much more.

I’m having a conversation right now with Mark Levine, a businessman and domain name investor from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Please share a little bit about yourself, Mark.

Since the beginning of the millennium, I had invested in domain names, but up until that point I had only done so in names associated with my companies (an online business filing service and a book publishing house). I now own about 1,200 domains. I once owned about 1,800 publishing-related domains and ran a book publishing business. My company’s greatest branding include some of my finest domains, like Published.com and BookPrinting.com. I specialize on publishing-related domains, however they now make up a lesser percentage of my portfolio. I have a number of brandables, and I’ve had success selling some of them, particularly those that feature the phrases “book,” “story,” “pub,” “title,” and other terms that, although I originally acquired them for their worth as publishing domains, also happen to be excellent brandables. I started purchasing one word and extremely short.IO’s in 2015. I entered them at the appropriate time. Despite making up less than 10% of my portfolio, since They made up roughly 20% of my total sales in 2017. Since June 1st, I’ve sold two.IO domain names. Despite not being a full-time domainer, after selling my publishing firm in 2016, I have dedicated more time to domain investment. I’ve already made more money from domain sales in 2018 than I did in all of 2017, while selling 50% fewer names.

What is the name of the domain you sold?

On June 1, 2018, I sold BeWoke.com after accepting a bid via the website’s Efty For-Sale landing page. For this domain name, I chose the North theme.

What did you spend for the domain and how much did it bring in when you sold it?

In October 2017, I paid $244 for BeWoke.com in a Godaddy auction, and I later sold the domain name for $6,000 with the buyer covering the escrow transaction costs.

Can you describe the process used to negotiate this domain name?

I enjoy purchasing names with political overtones that are connected to US politics, the government, activism, etc. BeWoke.com may imply many different things. The first undoubtedly has to do with political involvement. Before the 2018 midterm elections in the US, I anticipated receiving several proposals for the name. I purchased it for $8,900. I placed a BIN on the majority of my Efty For-Sale landing pages but did not include a minimum offer cap. I could tell the bidder was serious since his starting offer was $5,000. I spent less than $250 for the domain, so I wasn’t going to let $5,000 slip away, but I figured the buyer may go much higher. I retorted with $7,500. In response, the buyer stated that $6,000 was the maximum price they would pay. I agreed to and demanded that they cover all Escrow.com transaction costs.

Mark, thanks for sharing. Do you have anything further to say?

In the past year, I’ve been moving my domains to Efty. My Efty landing pages have generated 30% of my purchases so far in 2018, saving me hundreds of dollars in commissions. You may view a few of my domain names in my marketplace at DomainTheory.com.